FINAL-FRONTIER PIONEER

10.10.13

Second Earth-Orbiting Astronaut Dies

Michael Brown

And then there was only John Glenn. Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit the earth, died at age 88 in Denver after suffering a stroke last month. Now the only survivor of the original Mercury 7 program astronauts alive is Glenn. After surviving a disastrous landing 288 miles off target, Carpenter left the space program and refocused on the ocean floor. During one mission, he spent 30 days underwater as part of a Navy program. “Conquering of fear is one of life’s greatest pleasures and it can be done a lot of different places,” he once said.